Shane Williams's final flourish should not overshadow the fact that Wales struggle to beat the best

Sentiment does have its place in sport but so, too, do sobering realities. By
all means acclaim Shane Williams, the diminutive warrior on the wing who
enjoyed the perfect finale to his Wales career, but let’s also recognise
that the much-trumpeted Wales revival has yet to be truly confirmed.

High note: Shane Williams scored a try in final seconds of his last ever match for Wales against AustraliaPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

Compare and contrast the records of Wales and England over the past 12 months. This was Wales’s eighth defeat in 17 matches in a tortuously long year, while England won 10 from 13. Wales’s record against the major southern hemisphere powers is woefully inadequate. In 16 years of professional rugby, they have won only three times in 46 matches. They have not beaten one of those superpowers, New Zealand, Australia or South Africa, since 2008.

On Saturday, despite the Wallabies being plucked from their sunny post-World Cup beaches to go and earn some corn for the union, they were not really put under the cosh, save for the last 10 minutes.

Wales did concede all three tries against them when Leigh Halfpenny was in the sin-bin for tackling James O’Connor without the ball, which should have resulted in a penalty try, but they struggled to generate the fizz and drive that had characterised their World Cup. Will Genia, Lachie Turner and Berrick Barnes took suitable advantage for the Wallabies.

Warren Gatland has rightly made a virtue of pitting his side against the Tri-nations sides, much as Clive Woodward did a decade ago. It paid off for England, who secured 12 successive victories against those three market-leaders, culminating in triumph in the 2003 World Cup final.

That much is in Gatland’s sights. He is going the right way about it all, blooding and nurturing, playing the best to produce the best with three Tests in June to come against Australia, but there is still a sense of there being some way to go. This match only served to confirm that. True, Wales were without some significant characters who were injured or, such as scrum-half Mike Phillips, playing outside Wales. But Test teams rarely have a full complement.

Williams himself would recognise the wisdom of all this. The 34 year-old, whose play was jittery, his late try notwithstanding, realises it is time to move aside so the next generation can develop for the 2015 World Cup.

“You watch these young guys in training and their confidence is unbelievable, their talent, too,” said Williams, who was nine years older than anyone else in the back line, with centre Jamie Roberts at just 25 almost considered a pensioner himself by current standards. “They are so mentally tough and have the potential to be the best in the world.”

Eight of the starting XV were aged 22 or under with five more on the bench. That is the definite upside to the Welsh story. There is a sense of structure and forward planning there that is absent in England. There is stability at the top of the union where the chief executive, Roger Lewis, has salvaged a crumbling industry. Turnover has increased by 24 per cent over the last five years while debt has been reduced by over £20 million.

It is unlikely that Wales will allow the sparkle and intelligence Williams brought to his game to wander off into a post-retirement nothingness. One of those very youngsters, George North, 19, made a plea for Williams to be involved in some capacity.

“Hopefully he will be offered a role as speed and agility master,” North said. “He is like a book you have to crack open and then read chapter after chapter of awesome stuff. I am a different shape physically but I can take stuff from his game and put it into my own. I can try to do things but it won’t look half as good.”

Williams was always more than a mere sharp-heeled finisher, although the manner in which he rounded off from Scott Williams’ pass to slip outside Barnes to score with his very last touch in international rugby, his 58th try for his country, showed he is not too shabby at that. Throw in two try-saving interventions and you have a picture of the complete player: tenacious, clever and humble. He never took anything for granted, and he deserved every last salute.